About Us
PROUD LOUDOUN COUNTY BAKERY START-UP
Little Austria was started by two young Austrians, Berni and Helene, who were on a mission to find authentic strudel in the United States. Not finding what they were looking for, they decided to take things into their own hands.
Starting out of a shared kitchen and equipped with a mixer, an apple peeler, and a rolling pin the two started baking. The word got out and the demand for strudel grew quickly. After a year of baking, and not being able to keep up, they needed to buy a whole bakery’s worth of equipment to keep rolling out the dough for their sought after strudels.
Today, Little Austria has grown into an award winning small business offering a delicious strudel experience by staying true to the traditional technique of hand-stretching the dough and by using locally sourced, high quality ingredients, to craft what is the most popular dessert in Austria - Strudel!
The Founders
MEET HELENE AND BERNHARD GALLENT
Helene and Berni grew up in Carinthia, the southernmost State in Austria, in a beautiful area known for its mountains and crystal-clear lakes. Berni moved to the United States in 2009 in pursuit of the American Dream, Helene followed him six years later.
Spending much of their time as skiing and snowboard instructors, they met back in 2004 in Hochrindl, a ski resort in the Austrian Alps.
Before their strudel venture started, Helene was working as a special education teacher and as a speech therapist for children. Berni used to work in humanitarian logistics, responded to global emergencies and shipped aid and relief supplies to people in need all over the world.
Now they are both full time in the strudel business, committed to their mission on making a delicious Austrian dessert widely available in the United States.
Helene and Berni are raising a lovely family in Northern Virginia.
Media & Press
Read what the media, local & abroad write about us.
SEPTEMBER 7, 2017
Apple Strudel: A favorite thing, for centuries...
Apple strudel has a way of evoking nostalgia.For Helene Gallent, owner of Little Austria, a small Leesburg, Va., company specializing in Austrian sweets, apple strudel is the taste of childhood...
Washington Post
Kara Elder
DECEMBER 3, 2018
Farmers market favorite Little Austria..
For over a year, Austrian-born Helene Gallent has been selling freshly baked strudels at local farmers markets, working out of shared commercial kitchen ChefScape in Ashburn, Virginia.
Washington's Top News
Jeff Clabaugh
November 30, 2018
Austrian strudel maker to open first brick-and-mortar..
With the assistance of state funding, a startup Austrian bakery will open its first standalone space in Sterling. Little Austria LLC will create five new jobs and invest more than $371,000 to build its new commercial bakery. The...
Washington Business Journal
Katishi Maake
NOVEMBER 30, 2018
Little Austria Bakery to expand in Sterling...
Little Austria bakery will invest more than $370,000 to build a new commercial bakery in Sterling, officials announced Friday. The company is expected to receive more than $27,000
Loudoun Times-Mirror
Times-Mirror Staff
November 28, 2018
Announcement Set Nov. 28 About Investment...
Virginia Secretary of Agriculture and Consumer Services Bettina Ring will be on hand Nov. 28 for an announcement of plans by Little Austria, LLC to make a business investment in Sterling.
The Loudoun Tribune
SEPTEMBER 10, 2018
Die Amerikaner lieben diesen Kärntner...
Helene Gallent aus Kärnten hat in den USA die Firma „Little Austria“ gegründet und verkauft österreichische Desserts. Sogar die Washington Post schwört auf ihren Apfelstrudel.
Kleine Zeitung
Claudia Felsberger